Planet trapped record heat in 2025, every climate indicator 'flashing red': UN

NEW YORK: The amount of heat trapped by the Earth reached record levels in 2025, with the consequences of such warming feared to last for thousands of years, the United Nations warned on Monday.

The UN World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), the global weather and climate agency, confirmed in its flagship annual State of the Global Climate report that the 11 hottest years ever recorded all fell between 2015 and 2025.

According to the WMO, last year was the second or third hottest year on record, registering approximately 1.43 degrees Celsius above the 1850-1900 average.

UN chief sounds alarm

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a stark warning about the state of the planet's climate, calling it an emergency.

"The global climate is in a state of emergency. Planet Earth is being pushed beyond its limits. Every key climate indicator is flashing red," said Guterres.

"Humanity has just endured the 11 hottest years on record. When history repeats itself 11 times, it is no longer a coincidence. It is a call to act."

New metric introduced in climate report

In a significant development, the WMO climate report for the first time includes the planet's energy imbalance — the rate at which energy enters and leaves the Earth system. This new metric provides a deeper understanding of how much excess energy the planet is retaining, further underscoring the severity of the climate crisis as highlighted by the international body.

The inclusion of the energy imbalance indicator in the annual report marks a step forward in how the global scientific community tracks and communicates the scale of planetary warming. The record levels of trapped heat documented in the report carry implications that experts warn could persist for thousands of years, reinforcing the urgency of international climate action.

The findings from the WMO report add to a growing body of evidence that the planet is warming at an alarming pace, with each passing year reinforcing a trend that has now persisted for over a decade. The concentration of the 11 hottest years within a single 11-year window between 2015 and 2025 represents an unprecedented clustering of extreme warmth in the historical temperature record.

The UN Secretary-General's characterisation of the situation as an emergency reflects the increasingly urgent tone being adopted by global leaders and institutions as key climate thresholds continue to be breached.